Thanks, Daniel! This was a big storyline, and definitely took a lot of planning to get everything to line up. Really appreciate you going back and catching up from the start! Hope it isn't too onerous to click through all the chapters. :)
No worries Simon. Really enjoying it and I’m using your first post to navigate to the chapters so it’s fine 👍🏼
The planning side of it was something I struggled with when I tried to write all those years ago and it ended up like a runaway train with a start and an end but no idea what happened in between. That’s why it’s fascinating to read your posts on the whole process. Not that I’ll be trying to write anything longer than a short story anytime soon. They’re hard enough!
"The repeated references to the appearance of the Thing in the container looking similar to Just Enough’s AI megaship form (did you spot those?)" I had not.
I WAS going to make a joke about the welders building a Shadow Battlecrab. Then hit the last paragraph of the chapter. At that point it's less a joke and more an accurate guess. But I had overlooked/forgotten the described aesthetic of a megaship.
"The ‘mole’ in the SDC had to have some clues laid down, which I doubt anyone has spotted yet - but they’re in there for the curious." I have, of course, figured out there is a mole, but only managed to eliminate those who it ain't thus far.
Another megaship! I KNEW IT! (Actually I didn't really, I only had the suspicion about other *shards*, not other megaships, but still).
Well, well, well: the plot thickens!
There's a lot more thickening to come! Love reading your responses, Michael. :)
Great chapter! Love it when all the strands of a story begin to come together 👍🏼
Thanks, Daniel! This was a big storyline, and definitely took a lot of planning to get everything to line up. Really appreciate you going back and catching up from the start! Hope it isn't too onerous to click through all the chapters. :)
No worries Simon. Really enjoying it and I’m using your first post to navigate to the chapters so it’s fine 👍🏼
The planning side of it was something I struggled with when I tried to write all those years ago and it ended up like a runaway train with a start and an end but no idea what happened in between. That’s why it’s fascinating to read your posts on the whole process. Not that I’ll be trying to write anything longer than a short story anytime soon. They’re hard enough!
I think in some ways short stories are harder than longer ones - you have to make an impact so much more quickly.
"The repeated references to the appearance of the Thing in the container looking similar to Just Enough’s AI megaship form (did you spot those?)" I had not.
I WAS going to make a joke about the welders building a Shadow Battlecrab. Then hit the last paragraph of the chapter. At that point it's less a joke and more an accurate guess. But I had overlooked/forgotten the described aesthetic of a megaship.
"The ‘mole’ in the SDC had to have some clues laid down, which I doubt anyone has spotted yet - but they’re in there for the curious." I have, of course, figured out there is a mole, but only managed to eliminate those who it ain't thus far.